Association of Medical Illustrators 2025 Annual Conference

The conference officially began on Wednesday, July 16th. Dr. Derek Ng of University of Toronto held a full day workshop: "Modeling Protein Structures and Interactions for Molecular Illustrations and Animations". There was also a Half Day Workshop: Exploring the Thorax and Abdomen with Dr. Ryan Tubbs, Rylee Lane, and Dr. Amber Heard-Booth.

Wednesday also had a First Timer's workshop and the opening of the annual AMI Salon, a 3-day art gallery of the best and newest medical illustration work from students and professionals. 

Thursday began with a Presidential Address, delivered by AMI President Nobles Green. You may remember Nobles from a previous episode of the Medical Illustration Podcast–he was a guest! Be sure to check out his work at Amplify Biovisuals. Incredible stuff!

The Keynote presenter at this year's conference was Author, Television Host, YouTuber, Podcaster, and Medical Historian, Dr Lindsey Fitzharris who took us on a fascinating journey through the history of WW1, pulling anecdotes from her book “The Facemaker”.

Dr Tyler Sloan, an expert in neuroscience and data visualization, presented: "The Elaborate Beauty of the Nervous System", Dr Julia Phillips presented “Seeing All Bodies: Size-Inclusive Illustration and the Challenges of Representation”, science illustrator and graphics journalist Daisy Chung presented "Science Storytelling Through Visual Journalism", and UIC BVIS alum, and former staff fellow at the FDA, Andrea Kim joined virtually to speak on “Using a Knowledge-Based Framework for Generating More Equitable Al Training Data in Medical Imaging”.

Kicking off day 2 of the conference, Anne Mondro shared "Foraging the Heart: An Artist’s Search for Meaning". The program then split into concurrent sessions. Johns Hopkins associate professor and director of operations Lydia Gregg, presented “A Graphic Narrative-Based Intervention for Opioid Use Disorder” and Bill Glass and Jer Weann Ang presented "Bridging Technology and Education: The Role of 3D and Interactive Media in Healthcare". Gyyoung Oh presented "Solo, Not Stagnant: Strategies for Independent Medical Illustrators", Annie Gough presented "Vicarious Trauma and Resiliency", Mica Duran presented "The Why and How of Copyright: The legal rights to monetize your works", and Dr Gökhan Canaz presented "Neurosurgical Perspective on Illustrations".

The Friday program broke for the Awards Ceremony luncheon, and was followed by the annual Tech Showcase and Student Showcase. This year saw the unfortunate passing of some big names in the industry. A special session was held to honour former Hopkins program director Gary Lees, and medical animation trailblazer Jane Hurd was honoured as well. The post-conference loss of medical art legend Carol Donner was also commemorated in the podcast episode.

Day 3 of AMI 2025 began with a presentation by ANOTHER fellow podcaster Stephanie Drawdy: “Visual Artists’ Rights in the ‘Intelligence’ Age”. Sarah Gluschitz, Senior Academic Medical Illustrator at St. George’s University in Grenada took the podium next to present “Challenging Conventional Medical Illustrations of the Menstrual Cycle: Utilising a systematic review and thematic analysis to examine the linear and circular model”.

Mandy Root-Thompson & Christina Pecora then shared "Navigating the CMI Exam: Certification Exam Prep, Insights, and Opportunities for Engagement". Concurrently running were two excellent talks, “Empowering Healthcare: Showcasing our Scientific Visualization Process and Impact" by Rachael Whitehead & Joanne Park, and "The State of Biomedical Art Education in South Korea" by Adjunct Professor in Biohealth Design at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea, Jeehon O.

Next up was AnnElizabeth White, presenting "Best Practices in Health Literacy and Patient and Public Education", followed by Dr Martine Dunnwald who presented "Self-protection and Self-identity or the Fairy Tell of the Skin", and another former Medical Illustration Podcast guest Peg Gerrity closed out the conference with "The Elders Project: Painting Portraits of Alaska’s Tlingit Community".

Big shout out to the AMI meeting planning committee, and a big shout out and thanks to this year’s meeting sponsors. You can learn more about all the presentations mentioned here on the Association of Medical Illustrator's conference website for the 2025 meeting, and on TVASurg team member Paul Kelly's personal site.

Stay tuned for some exciting news and jaw-dropping surgical education content coming in early 2026!

--TVASurg Team